1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly, to a refrigerator capable of controlling supply of cool air into a cooling compartment and a vegetable chamber.
2. Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, a general refrigerator has a body 1 forming a freezing compartment 2 and a fresh food compartment 5, doors 3 and 6 for opening/closing the freezing compartment 2 and the fresh food compartment 5 respectively. At the rear part of the freezing compartment 2, an evaporator 7 for generating cool air and a fan 8 for supplying the cool air generated by the evaporator 7 into the cooling compartment 2 and 5 are installed.
The fresh food compartment 5 is partitioned into a plurality of spaces by a plurality of shelves 9. The lowermost space among the partitioned spaces is used for a vegetable chamber 10 for storing vegetables. In general the vegetable chamber 10 is maintained to a temperature somewhat higher than the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5.
At the rear part of the fresh food compartment 5, a duct member 16 being formed with a plurality of cool air discharge ports 16a is installed. The duct member 16 forms a cool air duct 11 vertically at the rear part of the fresh food compartment 5. The cool air discharge ports 16a are formed at positions corresponding to the spaces partitioned by the shelves 9.
A part of the cool air blown by the fan 8 flows into the cool air duct 11, and the cool air flowing into the cool air duct 11 is discharged into the fresh food compartment 5 through the cool air discharge ports 16a. Then, the food placed on the shelves 9 is cooled. In the cool air duct 11, a guide device 13 for guiding the cool air flowing into the cool air duct 11 toward the cool air discharge ports 16a is installed.
The cool air discharge ports 16a are formed at the frontal side and the lower side of the duct member 16. The cool air discharged through the cool air discharge ports 16a formed at the frontal side of the duct member 16 is supplied into the fresh food compartment 5, and the cool air discharged through the cool air discharge ports 16a formed at the lower side of the duct member 16 is supplied into the vegetable chamber 10. Thus, the food stored in the fresh food compartment 5 and the vegetables stored in the vegetable chamber 10 are cooled.
The supply of the cool air into the fresh food compartment 5 is controlled by a separate opening/closing device (not shown). That is, the refrigerator is equipped with an opening/closing device for opening/closing the cool air discharge ports 16a. The opening/closing device opens the cool air discharge ports 16a to supply the cool air into the fresh food compartment 5 when the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5 is high, and closes the cool air discharge ports 16a to stop supplying the cool air when the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5 is low. Then, the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5 is maintained to a desired temperature by opening/closing the cool air discharge ports 16a according to the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5 as described above.
However, in such a conventional refrigerator, although the supply of cool air is stopped by the opening/closing device when the temperature of the fresh food compartment 5 is maintained to a temperature lower than the desired temperature, the vegetable chamber 10 is continuously supplied with the cool air through the cool air discharge ports 16a formed at the lower side of the duct member 16, so there is a problem that the vegetables stored in the vegetable chamber 10 may be overcooled.